Last year, Stanford made history and nobody knew. That we didn't make a fuss over it filling the men's basketball coach, football coach and athletic director jobs with African-Americans is a sign of real progress, writes Ivan Maisel.

David Shaw has exhibited a keen understanding of the art and science of being a head coach in his two seasons in charge at Stanford. It's the other elements inherent to big-time college coaching that seem to escape him. And that's what made him so successful in Palo Alto.

Commissioner Larry Scott transformed the Pac-12 from merely an athletic conference into a multimedia empire -- but its football programs seemingly lagged behind. Early upsets by UCLA over No. 16 Nebraska and by Arizona over No. 18 Oklahoma State have provided much-needed on-field credibility.